Late Lunchtime Links: Senior bankers are leaving Morgan Stanley

As we have noted, Morgan Stanley isn't said to have paid its investment bankers especially well this year. Spending on compensation at Morgan Stanley's Institutional Securities Unit was down 8% in 2012 compared to 2011 and headhunters say a lot of people in the fixed income business in particular were 'zeroed' at bonus time.

Poor pay may be one reason why senior investment bankers at Morgan Stanley are leaving. Bloomberg reports that both Peter Bacon, Morgan Stanley's head of capital markets in Europe, and Gene Martin, co-head of Morgan Stanley's leveraged finance and acquisition group, are exiting the bank. Bacon is said to be seeking 'other opportunities' and the reason for Martin's departure is not clear.

Given the choice, other Morgan Stanley bankers may leave too. Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, an ex-McKinsey consultant, has said on several occasions that pay in banking is too high and that bankers who don't feel sufficiently rewarded need to get real or get out.